


Dear SaaStr: Is It Ridiculous To Call Yourself the CEO When Your Startup is Tiny?
Dear SaaStr: Is It Ridiculous To Call Yourself the CEO When Your Startup is Tiny? I used to feel that way, at least a bit. I used to look at tiny little startups and wince when a founder went around talking about himself as “CEO”. But then I had to learn how to Sell...
Dear SaaStr: What Are The Biggest Problems You Face as a Startup Founder?
Dear SaaStr: What Are The Biggest Problems You Face as a Startup Founder? The list of problems is endless (this is one of the hardest parts of the job), but let me try to order a few of the biggest challenges roughly based on stage: Pre-Revenue: Finding a Truly Great...
Dear SaaStr: What is The Biggest Difference Between Running a 10 Person Startup and a 100 Person Startup?
Dear SaaStr: What is The Biggest Difference Between Running a 10 Person Startup and a 100 Person Startup? The biggest structural difference is you have to hire all the VPs by employee 50–100. You won’t be able to scale this far without a full management team — VPs of...
The Top 10 Mistakes First Time SaaS Founders Make (Updated)
When you’re about to hire someone with an amazing logo on their LinkedIn, That worked somewhere so amazing, so great, so similar to what you want to become Just ask yourself: -> Would we still hire them without that logo? If not, do not make hire And … you gotta be...
The Top 5 Questions Every CEO Wrestles With – Lessons From Dave Kellogg (Video + Transcript)
We’re almost there!! 2023 SaaStrAnnual.com!! And while 85% of our speakers are new, we’ve also brought back some of our all-time favorites — with brand new content. That includes Dave Kellog, the former CEO of Host Analytics and prolific blogger. ...
Dear SaaStr: When Should The CEO Step Away From Sales?
Dear SaaStr: When Should The CEO Step Away From Sales? Never. It’s just, as you scale, what you do in the sales process as CEO evolves and changes. I remember when we closed Groupon as one of our Ten (or so) Largest customers, back in the day. They’d brought us...
7 Things as CEO You Can Do Today To Be a Better Manager (Updated)
My time as an investor is really the first time I’ve ever worked with CEOs who weren’t formally (or at least, informally) trained as managers. My bosses all came up through the ranks. I went from Director to VP to Founder to CEO. Most of my SaaS CEO...
5 Top Things to Remember When Starting a Company
It took us 2 years just to figure out our ultimate business model. What you think you do on day 1 may look very different by day 365. https://t.co/gmg2HH1MS8 — Aaron Levie (@levie) September 11, 2020 My Top 5 Things to Remember When Starting a Company:: #1....
If You Want to Get Funded – Dude, Make It Easy On Them (Updated)
These truly are the Days of Change in SaaS. In 2021, it seemed like everyone is raising 3 big VC rounds a year, effortlesslyBut for most of you, for most of us, it wasn’t any easier to raise VC capital. And now, it’s even harder. Why? The bar has gone...
Dear SaaStr: What Were The Top Pieces of Advice You’re Glad You Ignored?
Dear SaaStr: What Were The Top Pieces of Advice You’re Glad You Ignored? #1: “Don’t do any VC investments your first year. Take your time” Sound advice. But would have missed 4 unicorns if I had. I would have missed leading seed investments...
Why Hiring From Your Direct Competitors Usually Doesn’t Work Out (Updated)
There’s nothing wrong with hiring folks from the competition It’s just, when you do, you’ll overlook too many of their weakness, and give them too much credit for their competitive experience Only hire them if you still would if they worked somewhere else —...
Dear SaaStr: None of The 3 SaaS Products I Developed Have Any Sales. What Am I Doing Wrong?
Dear SaaStr: None of The 3 SaaS Products I Developed Have Any Sales. What Am I Doing Wrong? You may not have product-market fit. You may not have built a product people will actually pay for. But assuming you have … well — are you doing any marketing? There...
What is Jason M. Lemkin Like As An Investor?
Others can answer as well, but will share some Pros and Cons: Pros / Neutral: Require zero social proof. In fact, I sort of prefer there isn’t much. I don’t care which accelerator you went through, where you worked, where you went to school, or who the co-investors or...
Why You’re Unfundable in 2023: The Cold, Hard Truths About SaaS AMA Part 2 with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin
Jason Lemkin, CEO and Founder of SaaStr, recently answered our audience’s most pressing questions about the present and future of startups. Here is part 2 of the cold truth about SaaS in 2023.